Ditching machine



E. L. VON BALLUSECK DITCHING MACHINE 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Aug, 21. 1922 Feb. 12, 1924; 1,483,257 E. L. VON BALLUSECK DITCHING MACHINE Filed Aug. 21. 1922 2 Sheets-*Sheet z Patented Feb. 12, 1924.

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EUGEN LUDVVIG VON BALLUSEGK, OF GOD ESB EEG-ON THE-RHINE, GERMANY.

nrrcnme Mnorrmn Application filed August 21, 1922.. Serial no. 583,270.

tion.

The machines known up to the present for making ditches or trenches in heavy and sticky clay grounds are not or hardly able to answer the requirements as they cannot remove the clay from the ditching or the conveying elements or are subject to dif ficulties caused by the vegetation. The purpose generally aimed: at viz. the easy removal of the excavated soil to the earthen it all or walls to be raised alongside the ditch, is attained according to the present invention by employing ditching vanes or blades for shovelling and elevating the soil (this being also the case with the ditching wheels known until now) with the characteristic feature that they continue to keep hold of the soil by the action of the centripetal force until it is ejected from the ditching wheel by means of a stationary or a moving guiding member or remover and by the action of its own velocity or by the combined action of the velocity of the soil and of the guiding member or remover.

The known ditching wheels for light soil are based on the principle, also applied to dredgers, according to which the excavated soil is elevated and the cup or ditching vane turned upside down, the soil being consequently dropped onto a shoot or conveyor .Machines of this kind are suitable tofhe run even with the lowest speeds. With the machine according to the present invention a too small elevating and removal velocity would cause the soil to be dropped again into the ditch or to stick to .the members of the ditching machine.

According to the present invention the ditching wheel is provided with one or a plurality of movable cylindrical vanes or blades which are brought into a position (automatically or by means of a mechanism with aipositive drive) suitable for ditching and immediately after the ditching action assume a position in which the axis of the cylindrical surface coincides with the wheel axis, the soil being thus elevated by its velocity together w th the vane or blade;

'At the axis side of the vane trajectory a remover for the soil is provided;

In case it is not possible to run the machine with a relatively high circumferential speed though with a sufiicient speed to elevate, the soil exerting a certain pressure on the vanes, it is also possible to impartto the remover an oscillatory motion so that-it periodically moves against the displacement of each vane passing by and with combined veloc ty as well hews off the soilfrom the van'e as causes it to slide off from the re mover itself. In order to prevent the soil from being thrown too far away, the machine may be provided with vertical or nearly vertical guide screens at the sides of the ditching wheel. remove the soil to one side only or it may be arranged so as to eject the soil toboth sides. The vehicle may run alongside the ditch to be made or over it,in other words it may be one-sided or symmetrical; According to the special conditions of the soil and the construction of the machine, the latter may be disposed near the portion of the ditching wheeh moving upward, near its highestpoint or near the portion moving downward.

The French patent specification 50.0908,

premiere addition 22250 has disclosed T a ditching wheel or soil milling cutter with movable ditching forks which talni up the soil and throw it back again over the wheel axis into the same ditch. I

The present invention is elucidated by the accompanying more or less diagram matical drawings representing two forms of execution by way of example.

Figure 4.- a partial side view of a machine differing with regard to some details from "the form of execution as Shown by Figures Figure The machine may v Figure l' represents a partial top plan 5 a diagrammatical axis section on an enlarged scale of the ditching wheel shown byFigure The ditching wheel is rotatablyarranged on. a shaft 11 bearing in the framework 10 to the ends of the spokes 12; their'stroke is limited by the crossdoars 13 ami tcps 15 against which the cylindrical blades 16' andconsists principally of spokes 12 conabut. As soon as the lower edge of the cutters or the initial cutters 17 provided at their ends come into touch with the ground, they automatically assume the ditching position, as shown by the drawing, and by a shoveling action are partially filled with soil. The cylindrical blade thereby bears against the stops 15. However, no sooner the soil has been out than the cutter rotates about its journals to assume the position in which the cylindrical upper surface is concentric with the shaft 11. By the shoveling act-ion of the cutter and its own stickiness the soil has now obtained a suflicient velocity to be quicklyraised together with the cutter.

A remover or guiding member 19 is provided on the shaft within the ditching wheel by means of supporting arms 18. The ditching cutters slide along the outside of the remover and free themselves from the soil sticking to and pressed against them. However, the velocity with which this occurs, is so high that the clay has no opportunity to adhere to the remover, but slides off and is ejected from the inner space of the wheel. By a very simple modification of the construction an oscillatory rotary motion may be imparted to the shaft 11 so that the remover receives an independent hewing action. At each revolution of the ditching wheel the remover should then execute as many oscillations as there are ditching cutters provided to the wheel.

The remover is shown as being forwardly inclined with its cutting edge 20 relative to the ditching blades, this feature having for its purpose to enable the remover tocut th excavated sod easily.

The framework 10 is suspended by means of a shaft 21 to a motor vehicle, whose motor may also supply the driving power for the ditching wheel, and may be lowered or raised by means of the handwheel 22 and a screw-threaded. rod. The constructional details of the wheel driving mechanism have no direct connection with the invention. It should only be remarked that the ditching cutters might be moved by means of connecting rods in the manner as realized with the grippers of the wheels of certain motor ploughs or for example the paddle wheels of boats. In this way the ditching cutters have a positive drive contrary to the more free automatic drive according to the drawing.

It is also possible to provide the guiding member or remover with a somewhat rough surface in the manner as already the Indian shovels are roughened in order to improve the action by which the clay is slid off.

The ditching wheel according to Figures and5 is provided with ditching blades 16,

'which are also pivotally arranged on journals, but which areguided in slots 24 by means of pins These pins and slots limit the freedom of movement of the ditching blades in a similar manner as this movement is limited in the other form of execution by means of the stops 15 and the crossbars 13.

On the shaft sleeve 25 of the ditching wheel an inner wheel is mounted provided with screens 27 pivotable about journals 26 and arranged opposite the ditching blades 16. Said screens are kept in such a position by springs 28 that the back edge rests upon the corresponding ditching blade. Between the screens 27 and the ditching blades 16 wedge-shaped spaces are thus formed which receive the excavated soil. Loose or nonsticky soil is kept hold of in said spaces until the remover 19 exerts its action. During the time the remover acts on the soil, it pushes the screen, which passes by, shown against the action of the spring 28 into the position.

In the construction according to Figures 4 and 5 the remover 15 is mounted in a way different from the other form of execution. The supporting bar 29 is rigidly connected to the shaft 30, the other supporting bar 31 is provided with an eye in which the shaft sleeve 25 can rotate. Thus all mem bers connected with the ditching wheel can pass along the remover.

The remover executes a hewing motion, the shaft 30 receiving a rotary oscillation by means of the crank 32, the eccentric rod 33 and the eccentric 34, the latterbeing driven by the shaft 35. This shaft 35 is mounted in bearings of the arms 10 and provided with a sprocket wheel 36 driven by the sprocket wheel 37 mounted on the shaft 21. The remover 19 executes six strokes for each revolution of the ditching wheel and the different members are adjusted in such a way that, when a ditching blade 16 passes by, the remover executes at the right moment a quick movement opposite to the movement of the ditching blade. The action of the remover may still be strengthened by substituting the eccentric in a known way by a curved disc or cam mechanism.

What I claim is:

1. A ditching machine including a rotatable shaft, a ditching wheel thereon embodying a plurality of movable ditching cutters adapted to be adjusted concentrically with the shaft after the ditching action, and a remover arran ed entirely within the ditching wheel and against the traectory plane of the inner surfaces of the ditching cutters in such manner and having such shape as to remove that portion of the elevated soil which adheres to the ditching cutters without interfering with the velocity of the soil as it is thrown beyond the ditch-v 2. Ditching machine as set forth in claim 1, characterized by the fact that during the ditching action. the remover executes a rotary oscillatory movement around the Wheel 5 shaft.

3. Ditching machine as set forth in claim 1, characterized by the fact that pivotable screens are provided Within the Wheel opposite the ditching cutters, these screens being arranged in such a Way as to keep hold of the soil but While changing their position can travel along the remover.

In testimony whereof I afiix my signature.

EUGEN LUDWIG von BALLUSECK. 

